background: the approaches chosen for control of outbreaks of infectious diseases in aquatic farming industry include improvement of environmental conditions, stocking of specific pathogen free (spf) brood stockings, and application of vaccines and immunostimulants. despite numerous studies on the effects of ergosan on immune system of aquatic animals, there is no data available on antioxidant ...

BACKGROUND Mycobacterium ulcerans is the causative agent of Buruli ulcer (BU), a destructive skin disease found predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa and south-eastern Australia. The precise mode(s) of transmission and environmental reservoir(s) remain unknown, but several studies have explored the role of aquatic invertebrate species. The purpose of this study was to investigate the environmenta...

Host nutrition is thought to affect the establishment, persistence, and severity of pathogenic infections. Nutrient-deficient foods possibly benefit pathogens by constraining host immune function or benefit hosts by limiting parasite growth and reproduction. However, the effects of poor elemental food quality on a host's susceptibility to infection and disease have received little study. Here w...

The aquatic zoonotic pathogen Streptococcus iniae represents a threat to the worldwide aquaculture industry and poses a risk to humans who handle raw fish. Because little is known about the mechanisms of S. iniae pathogenesis or virulence factors, we established a high-throughput system combining whole-genome pyrosequencing and transposon mutagenesis that allowed us to identify virulence protei...

Rhinosporidium seeberi, a microorganism that can infect the mucosal surfaces of humans and animals, has been classified as a fungus on the basis of morphologic and histochemical characteristics. Using consensus polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we amplified a portion of the R. seeberi 18S rRNA gene directly from infected tissue. Analysis of the aligned sequence and inference of phylogenetic rela...

Research on emerging infectious wildlife diseases has placed particular emphasis on host-derived barriers to infection and disease. This focus neglects important extrinsic determinants of the host/pathogen dynamic, where all barriers to infection should be considered when ascertaining the determinants of infectivity and pathogenicity of wildlife pathogens. Those pathogens with free-living stage...

Ocean acidification and disease: How will a changing climate impact Vibrio tubiashii growth and pathogenicity to Pacific oyster larvae? Elene Marie Dorfmeier Chair of Supervisory Committee: Carolyn S. Friedman, Associate Professor School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences Vibrio tubiashii (Vt) is a causative agent of vibriosis in molluscan bivalves. Recent re-emergence of vibriosis in economically...

Crude ethanol extracts of Acalypha indica, Acorus calamus, Coleus aromaticus, Heliotropium indicum, and Indigofera aspalathoides were screened for antibacterial activity in vitro against the growth of the fish pathogenic bacteria, Aeromonas hydrophila. Terramycin, widely used to control A. hydrophila in aquaculture, was used as a positive control. The herbs A. calamus and I. aspalathoides warde...

We recently reported the genome sequence of a free-living strain of Vibrio furnissii (NCTC 11218) harvested from an estuarine environment. V. furnissii is a widespread, free-living proteobacterium and emerging pathogen that can cause acute gastroenteritis in humans and lethal zoonoses in aquatic invertebrates, including farmed crustaceans and molluscs. Here we present the analyses to assess the...